Today's Papers and Blogs

The Wash Times leads with LeBron's ankle injury. Here's a question: If LeBron missed the series, which team would be favored? I've asked this to a lot of people, and have gotten no consensus. I say the Wiz.

This is my favorite link of the day, because there's lots of weird stuff in here, including what Gil said to LeBron before the game. But there's also a lot of actually important Haywood coverage, to wit:

If there's an opponent other than Shaq whom Ilgauskas likes to battle least, it would be Washington Wizards center Brendan Haywood. Haywood has gotten under Ilgauskas' skin for years....

But by Wizards coach Eddie Jordan's design, Haywood made only a brief five-minute cameo in the Cavs' 97-82 Game 1 win Sunday. He did not leave the Washington bench in the fourth quarter, when Ilgauskas did his damage.

LeBron replies to his owner before the game, saying "We can't go around contemplating what other people say."

Wise is already on the edge, and writing about overflowing urinals. He says the Wiz "need to take at least one game for their own mental well-being. Even without Butler and Arenas, it would be crushing to be swept from the postseason in two of the last three years."

Tom Knott says Eddie Jordan "is reduced to trying to make chicken salad out of chicken fertilizer," and that being competitive doesn't really matter, and that the lottery teams will confirm this.

The definition of a bad team in the NBA is one that cannot finish games. That does not mean the bad teams of the NBA are not competitive in the first 36-42 minutes of a game.

They usually are. They just the lack transcendent player who can carry a team in the waning minutes of a taut affair.

Terry Pluto worries about future injuries, and says the Cavs need to go for the sweep.

P.S. I think the most interesting news angle is Larry Hughes' concession that he was calling out Wizards defensive plays by name to try to confuse the Wizards. I finding this weirdly amusing, but also just generally weird.